Zoo City

Zoo City

  • by Lauren Beukes
  • Narrated by Justine Eyre
  • 9 hrs and 25 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook
3.69 (98
Ratings.
)

Publisher's Summary

Zinzi December has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job: missing persons.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

Urban Fantasy That Does Flinch

Fans of China Mieville and William Gibson take note: Lauren Buekes??? ???Zoo City??? is every bit gritty noir as it is urban fantasy, and it shoots along like bullets through a warm night sky.

Which means, this story is not a story for the faint of heart. It culminates in one of the roughest blood baths I???ve ever listened to. The worldbuilding is everything you???d want it to be --particularly the ghettoization of the Zoos -- and Beukes turns a phrase better than most and writes broken characters with heart. Her Zinzi is an antihero who despite all her flaws and failings, somehow manages to make us care about her. That said, the ending fell a bit short for me ??? not so much a payoff of counterfeit bills, but more like a stage magician who closes out her stunning show with a rabbit trick. It???s not bad, and there's resolution, but it left me wishing for something different.

I can???t comment too much on the authenticity of Justine Eyre???s accent, but she did an impressive job reading this one ??? from differentiating between the characters, the internal dialogue of Zinzi, and all-in-all carrying this story.

If you ever wondered what might have happened if James Ellroy was raised in Johannesburg by a witch who moonlighted writing 419 scam emails on the side, this is your ticket. All in all, well worth the listen, and I???m eager to see where Beukes takes us next.
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- Dave

Appalling narration spoiled a so-so book

Zoo City floats your boat or it doesn't. The essential idea of emotional baggage being carried around in the form of an animal as well as conveying a special sensitivity or power to the damaged person is interesting. The characterisation is light. The descriptions of South Africa are perhaps less remarkabe if you live in Johannesburg - as I do. Personally I found the end too neat and convenient and the final redemption unconvincingly complete.

I had a much bigger problem with the narration. It was shocking! The accents were inconsistent and poor. Like listening to an Austrailian actor doing half a dozen accents he has heard for an hour each, all you hear is ham Austrailian. Nobody speaks like that. As a consequence of having a non South African reader, words were seriously mispronounced - in three languages! Slang words especially lose their impact and emotion when said incorrectly. There were five or six moments when I almost stopped listening to this audiobook because listening to it being read so badly detracted from the writing.

If this is your genre and you are intersted in Zoo City, I recommend reading it.
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- Lawrence

Book Details

  • Release Date: 10-04-2011
  • Publisher: Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio
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